Oxygen Production by Urban Trees in the United States

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Summary of data collection in cities using 0.04 ha circular plots.

Table 2.

Oxygen production by urban forests in various cities and its relative effect compared with the city population.

	Trees (×1,000)		Oxygen prod.^{^z} (t/year × 1,000)				Oxygen offset^{^y}			Per person offset^{^x}
City	Total	SE	Net total	SE	Net w/d total	SE	Net no. of people (% pop)	Net w/d no. of people (% pop)	Net no./ha	Net w/d no./ha	Net no. of trees	Net w/d no. of trees
Atlanta, GA	9,415	749	112	8	86	12	366,400 (88%)	280,300 (67%)	29	22	26	34
Baltimore, MD	2,627	570	39	5	25	4	127,700 (20%)	82,500 (13%)	29	19	21	32
Boston, MA	1,183	109	25	2	19	2	82,900 (14%)	60,400 (10%)	26	19	14	20
Calgary, Alberta	11,889	2,777	52	7	45	6	169,000 (19%)	147,700 (17%)	33	28	70	81
Freehold, NJ	48	6	1	0	1	0	4,300 (39%)	2,800 (25%)	25	16	11	17
Jersey City, NJ	136	22	2	0	2	0	7,000 (3%)	5,100 (2%)	16	11	19	27
Minneapolis, MN	979	165	22	3	11	6	70,200(18%)	36,200 (9%)	18	9	14	27
Moorestown, NJ	583	53	9	1	7	1	29,700(160%)	22,300(120%)	28	21	20	26
Morgantown, WV	658	79	7	1	5	1	22,800 (85%)	17,800 (66%)	29	22	29	37
New York, NY	5,212	719	102	11	55	12	333,600 (4%)	180,500(2%)	20	11	16	29
Philadelphia, PA	2,113	211	39	4	29	4	127,200 (8%)	93,000 (6%)	24	17	17	23
San Francisco, CA	668	98	12	2	11	1	40,200 (5%)	36,900 (5%)	28	26	17	18
Syracuse, NY	876	119	13	1	11	1	42,800 (29%)	37,200 (25%)	29	25	20	24
Toronto, Ontario	7,542	889	98	10	76	10	318,300(13%)	246,500 (10%)	25	19	24	31
Washington, DC	1,928	224	39	4	31	3	127,400 (22%)	101,400(18%)	28	22	15	19
Woodbridge, NJ	986	97	13	1	10	1	43,900 (44%)	32,000 (32%)	25	18	22	31

↵^zAnnual oxygen production by the urban forest (thousands of metric tons per year). Multiply by 1.102 to convert to tons.
↵^yNumber of people and percent of city population that urban forest oxygen production offsets in terms of average adult human oxygen consumption per year.
↵^xAverage number of people whose oxygen consumption is offset by oxygen production per hectare of tree cover in the city (no./ha; divide by 2.471 to convert to no./ac) and average number of trees needed in city to offset the oxygen consumption of one adult human (no. of trees).
Net = net oxygen production of population without consideration of decomposition; Net w/d = net oxygen production of population considering decomposition; net production minus estimated oxygen consumed resulting from decomposition; SE = standard error.